Name Mark Titus Jersey number 34 Nationality American Weight 102 kg | Career 2006–2010 Height 1.93 m Sport Basketball Role Blogger Conference Big Ten Conference | |
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Books Don't Put Me In, Coach: My Incredible NCAA Journey from the End of the Bench to the End of the Bench Profiles | ||
Mark titus osu bench warmer extraordinaire
Mark Titus (born June 25, 1987) is an American sports journalist and former walk-on basketball player for Ohio State. Since October 2008, he has written about his basketball-related experiences in his blog 'Club Trillion'. He has worked as a contributing writer for ESPN Insider on men's college basketball, in 2011 began contributing material for ESPN's site, Grantland.com, and he began writing for theringer.com in 2016. In a recent interview on the Scott Van Pelt Show, he recently "campaigned" to become the head coach of the Duquesne men's basketball team, but was unsuccessful. In a recent interview with Pardon My Take, former teammate Mike Conley said he was a top 5 favorite teammate of his who averaged less than 1 point per game.
Contents
B.S Report - Mark Titus (2009.03.11)
Biography
Born in Brownsburg, Indiana, Titus played basketball at Brownsburg High School in Indiana. For Brownsburg High, Titus scored more than 1,000 career points (only other 1,000 point scorers in BHS history: Eric Riggs '94, Jered Reeves '02, and current NBA player Gordon Hayward '08) and was voted second team All-Indiana selection twice. He played on the same AAU team as future NBA players Daequan Cook, Eric Gordon, Josh McRoberts, Mike Conley, and Greg Oden.
In the fall of 2006, Titus enrolled at Ohio State University, where he planned on attending medical school and being a student manager for the basketball team. He was quickly added to the roster by coach Thad Matta as a walk-on, and was cleared to play for the Buckeyes on November 10. In the Buckeyes' season opener, Titus received three minutes of playing time and made each of his two free throw attempts. Titus played in 14 of the team's 39 games.
During the 2008–2009 basketball season, Titus created his own blog, "Club Trillion", with the name referring to his line in the box score for many games: '1' in the first column (minutes played), followed by zeroes in the other twelve columns (points, rebounds, etc.). Titus' blog, and his antics as a player, gained him some attention in the sports media. Titus had many of his followers join him in growing mustaches and pictures were posted on his blog. He appeared on ESPN.com's 'BS Report' with Bill Simmons on March 11, 2009, and again on March 24, 2010. On April 9, 2009, Titus, although a walk-on with no hopes of playing in the NBA, used his blog to formally announce his entrance into the 2009 NBA Draft. The blog entry eventually became a headline story on Yahoo!’s home page.
During his senior season, Titus received cheers from opposing fans, and received coverage from opposing school newspapers. Titus was mentioned in the New York Times and the Associated Press. Titus has also made comedic jabs at teammate Evan Turner. Titus' "Mr. Rainmaker" video on YouTube has received over 540,000 views.
On March 6, 2012, Titus released his first book entitled "Don't Put Me In, Coach: My Incredible NCAA Journey from the End of the Bench to the End of the Bench." The book tells the story of his time as a benchwarmer at Ohio State.
Titus joined the sports journalism website Grantland.com (and subsequently theringer.com), writing primarily about college basketball and providing readers with his power rankings every week starting in the 2012-13 season.
Mark became a recurring guest on the #1 sports podcast "Pardon My Take." and noted that his goal for 2017 was for his interview to make it to the Pardon My Take "Best of 2017 list".